Spadina Expressway
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The Spadina Expressway, now known as William R. Allen Road, was proposed in the mid-1960s as part of a network of expressways in Metropolitan Toronto. Originally to run from north of Highway 401 into the downtown area via the Cedarvale Ravine and Spadina Road, it was only partially built before being cancelled in 1971.
Allen Road (the short completed section of the truncated Spadina Expressway), along with the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway, form the municipal expressway system in Toronto. These are the expressways which are owned and operated by the City of Toronto. The remainder of the expressway system in the city, consisting of the 400-series highways (such as 401, 427, 400 and 404) and the Queen Elizabeth Way, are owned and operated by the Province of Ontario.
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The Spadina controversy
Image:BadTrip.jpg The debate over the Spadina Expressway, and its eventual cancellation, are regarded as a turning point in local history. It preceded the beginning of the so-called "Reform Era" in Toronto politics, which brought to City Hall the likes of David Crombie and John Sewell — leaders who were more interested in creating a people-oriented city rather than a car-oriented city. It also highlighted the growing schism between the downtown city and the more suburban boroughs of Etobicoke, North York, and Scarborough. The debate over the expressway was one of several issues that led to increased development in areas to the north and west of Toronto.
The construction of the Spadina Expressway was initially at the insistence of the owners of the Yorkdale Shopping Centre. As construction proceeded, opposition to the expressway grew among residents of the neighbourhoods in its path, including affluent and well-established communities of Forest Hill and The Annex. The new road, they feared, would tear apart their neighbourhoods and choke the area with new traffic and air pollution. It would also ruin an irreplaceable natural area and require the demolition of hundreds of homes, as well as historic buildings such as Spadina House.
Marshall McLuhan said of the expressway: "Toronto will commit suicide if it plunges the Spadina Expressway into its heart... our planners are 19th century men with a naive faith in an obsolete technology. In an age of software Metro planners treat people like hardware — they haven't the faintest interest in the values of neighbourhoods or community. Their failure to learn from the mistakes of American cities will be ours too."
Grassroots protests by downtown residents and, eventually, a considerable lobbying effort, turned the tide against the expressway. (Notable among the opposition was urban critic Jane Jacobs, who moved to the Annex in 1969, fresh from a battle to stop the Lower Manhattan Expressway in New York City.) However, the Ontario Municipal Board backed the Spadina Expressway in a 2-1 decision.
In June 1971, an appeal led the provincial government of Bill Davis to withdraw its support, effectively killing the project. Speaking in the Ontario Legislature, Davis said: "If we are building a transportation system to serve the automobile, the Spadina Expressway would be a good place to start. But if we are building a transportation system to serve people, the Spadina Expressway is a good place to stop" (quoted in Sewell, 1993). Others maintained that Davis based his decision on political considerations rather than sound planning because of an impending provincial election to be held later that year.
In 1983, when Davis announced his retirement from Provincial politics, one of his last acts was to grant a 1 metre wide strip of land on the south side Eglinton Ave. West to the City of Toronto to ensure that no southerly extension would ever be built.
Outcome
When the project was stopped, the expressway was complete from Wilson Avenue to Lawrence Avenue, and the land had been cleared and graded for it to continue south to Eglinton Avenue. Five years later the section to Eglinton was completed; still later, a northern extension was built as an arterial road rather than an expressway, and now extends beyond Sheppard Avenue.
Renamed the William R. Allen Expressway after a former chair of Metropolitan Toronto, the expressway was later given the title of William R. Allen Road to indicate its truncated status; it is referred to as "The Allen" by locals. The Spadina subway line, opened in 1978, runs down its median from Wilson to Eglinton, where it descends underground and follows the approximate route planned for later sections of the expressway. Many pro-car politicians felt that the biggest construction hurdle, the segment from Lawrence Avenue to Eglinton Avenue which passed through a heavily built-up area, had been overcome in 1970. They pointed out that an extension from Eglinton to St. Clair Avenue/Bathurst Street through the Cedarvale Ravine would require little demolition of private properties and alleviate the current bottleneck that exists where the Allen Road terminates at Eglinton.
The cancellation of the Spadina also spelled the end for the rest of the proposed network, including the Crosstown, Richview and Scarborough expressways. To date, no further expressways have been built in Toronto, leaving only two express routes to serve the downtown core: the Don Valley Parkway and the Gardiner Expressway, whose own future is under continual debate. Many planners have pointed to this as a major factor in the city's considerable traffic congestion since private car ownership has continued to grow despite the lack of roads constructed. Furthermore, the expensive Spadina subway line and other costly public transit initiatives have failed to divert traffic off of existing roads. The TTC commuter parking garages at the Yorkdale Mall have similarly been unsuccessful in encouraging ridership; most of the garages served more efficiently as mall parking.
The end of the Spadina was also a turning point in Metropolitan Toronto's (later City of Toronto after 1997) growth history; many businesses disliked the new urban-reform measures which were seen as anti-development policies. Because of its perceived anti-car policies, Toronto was no longer as attractive to development as it formerly was and businesses migrated towards Peel Region and York Region where taxes were lower and where there were less restrictions and opposition to growth. The appeal of Peel and York regions has also increased due to the expansion of the provincial highway network to meet growing demand.
The provincial government did, however, build a parallel highway to the west of the Spadina, which is a short arterial extension of Highway 400, known as Black Creek Drive. It was transferred to the City upon completion in 1982. It was intended to draw some of the traffic away from the truncated Spadina. Black Creek Drive ends south of Eglinton Avenue on Weston Road, which continues south. However, pro-car politicians note that both Black Creek and Allen only go as far as Eglinton Avenue, neither making it to downtown Bloor Street or Gardiner Expressway, leaving a major gap in the Toronto expressway system. This gap, however, has allowed thriving and desirable neighbourhoods such as the Bloor West Village, the Junction, the Annex and Parkdale to survive and thrive.
See also
- Harbour Drive, a controversial freeway in Halifax, Nova Scotia that was only partially built and then cancelled for many of the same reasons.
References
- Sewell, John (1993). The Shape of the City: Toronto struggles with modern planning. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
- Nowlan, David and Nowlan, Nadine (1970). The Bad Trip: The Untold Story of the Spadina Expressway. Toronto: new press/ House of Anasi.